The Beginning of Something New
by neurolingual
Summary: A future-Paily wedding story! Includes McCullers' family mushiness.


**A/N: Hello everyone! Okay, so I was reading underthegreensward's fanfiction from her tumblr a few hours ago and it gave me some massive feelings, which resulted in this thing below. I kind of put a spin on a wedding idea that I had for one of my multi-chaptered Paily fics that's in the process of being written, and this is what I came up with. Let me know what you think and I'll see you guys soon! :)  
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**The Beginning of Something New**

**Words: 1,471**

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She's nervous, to say the least.

If she could go beyond being nervous, she would describe her feelings as a swarm of pterodactyls having an all-out war inside of her body, causing her hands to shake uncontrollably and her breathing to be strained.

But it would all be worth it in the end. For now, though, Caleb, Toby and Ezra are rushing around her hotel room, looking for the pale blue bowtie that Ezra managed to "misplace" a few minutes ago.

"I swear I had it!" Ezra tosses his hands into the air.

Paige tries her best to take deep breaths, but it becomes almost impossible for her to shake her nerves. Every possible thought about something going wrong comes to her, and she only thinks of the worst.

Just then, her father enters the room, taking notice of the three young men frantically searching the area, along with his daughter standing by the large window, peering out of it with a worried gaze. He steps closer; maneuvering his was past Caleb, who was now crawling on the floor, to stand behind his daughter. Nick places a hand on Paige's shoulder and she jumps at the contact.

"Sweetheart, you need to calm down," he says in the most soothing tone he could muster. Truthfully, if anyone was more nervous than Paige at this point in time (well, besides Emily, of course), it would be Nick McCullers. This was his little girl. He's watched her grow up from the minute she came into this world, and now? She's a twenty-five year old woman with a successful job that makes her happy and on her way to marrying the woman of her dreams.

"I can't! I've been trying for the past half hour! The guys already lost my bowtie, and without it wearing this tuxedo would be pointless because the bowtie matches the color of the sash on Emily's dress and then we wouldn't be matching and then people wouldn't know who's marrying who if we weren't matching and-"

"Paige, _Paige_, slow down," Nick chuckles, grasping both of Paige's shoulders now and shaking them lightly, cutting off his daughter's babbling. "I'm pretty sure people would know you were marrying Emily even if you weren't wearing that bowtie."

"But its color coordinated! No one would know!"

"Paige, I'm colorblind. I wouldn't know either way."

"Well… you don't count!"

"_Excuse me_?"

Paige's face heats up as a dark blush covers her cheeks. "T-that's not... I-I didn't mean it like that, dad, I swear!" She takes in a deep breath, closing her eyes and exhaling slowly. "What's wrong with me?"

"It's just nerves, honey. Trust me, this is a good sign! It shows that you're actually scared of messing something up and worrying Emily," Nick states, watching a small smile tug at the corners of Paige's lips. It disappears just as quickly as it comes, though.

"Wait, you think I _will_ mess something up? Oh god, Em is going to kill me if something goes wrong!" Paige covers her face with her hands.

"Never mind Emily," Ezra shouts from the other side of the room, "If we don't find this bowtie I'm pretty sure Spencer will decapitate us and mount our heads above her fireplace."

"Wait, me too?" Toby asks with a worried expression.

"Yes, even you, Tobs."

"This is your fault," Caleb jumps up from the floor, pointing a finger at the college professor. "If it weren't for your one-track mind, we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"Boys, boys," Nick calls out, earning the attention of the three other men in the room. "Enough with the bowtie spiel. Ezra, have you checked your back pocket recently?"

"What?" He stares at Mr. McCullers incredulously. "Why would I check my-" Reaching into his back pocket, Ezra feels the familiar fabric, pulling it out to reveal the missing artifact, gazing at it like it were a piece of gold.

"_Are you freaking kidding me_?!" Caleb and Toby shout simultaneously. Nick clears his throat, pulling the attention back to him.

"I noticed it there as soon as I walked in. You should really pay attention to where you place things, Fitz. Anyway, would you mind stepping out for just a moment? I'd like to talk to Paige." The three nodded, walking single-file towards the door and exiting the hotel room, leaving Paige and her father alone to gaze out of the window.

"Were you this nervous?" Paige speaks up after a moment of silence, forcing Nick to face her. "I mean, when you and mom were getting married."

He chuckles. "To be honest, I was worse than you are right now." They both smiled. "I kept calling and calling you mother's room every five minutes just to make sure she was actually still marrying me."

Paige smiles wider and ducks her head, staring at her shoes. When she looks back up at her father, who is smiling encouragingly at her, she can't help but think.

"Do you not want to do this? I mean, be my best man, that is. I know you and had our rough patches ever since I came out to you all those years ago. I figured it was just you centering your anger on me for me being gay."

This takes Nick totally by surprise. He turns so his body is completely facing her, prompting Paige to do the same. "Paige, sweetheart, listen to me," he tucks a loose strand of her hair back behind her ear, "_of course_ I want to do this. It's always been my dream to be a part of your wedding. And maybe, you know, I didn't think it would be in this way, but I've never been more proud of you in my entire life. You've accomplished everything and anything to make yourself happy, and that's all I've ever wanted for you. I was never angry at you for being gay; you can't help who you are. I was angry at myself because, for the longest time, I thought maybe you are the way you are because I did something wrong. But then I realized that nothing I could have ever done would have changed you, and that makes me sound like an ass, I know," he laughs, making Paige smile. "I'm so happy that you were comfortable enough to tell me how you really feel. All those years, hiding who you really were, it must have been torture. I know now that, I wouldn't have you any other way. Being straight is definitely not your thing." Nick pulls her into a hug, sighing as Paige wraps her arms tightly around him.

"Thank you," she mumbles into the collar of his tuxedo.

"And, also," he starts again, Paige pulling away to look him in the eyes, "the way you look at Emily and the way she looks at you, the way you smile at her and how she smiles back at you, it lets me know that you've truly found someone that you can spend the rest of your life with, someone who makes you just as happy as you make them, and that's what truly makes _me_ the happiest."

Paige doesn't try to contain the ear-splitting grin as it takes over her face.

"Now," Nick says, brushing off Paige's shoulders and wiping away a few stray tears that slipped down her cheeks, "let's finish getting you ready, so you can go out there and marry your wife-to-be."

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Standing here at the altar, Paige is sure her nerves are even worse than they were back in the room. Her heart rate rockets to the sky, forcing her to close her eyes and take a long, slow, deep breath. Upon opening them, she looks to her right, her father standing immediately next to her, followed by Caleb, Toby, and then Ezra, and they all give her a reassuring nod and smile. To her left, Hanna, Spencer, Aria and Mrs. Fields stand waiting in their pale blue gowns, and they all smile back at her.

_ She can do this._

Suddenly, soft music begins to play, and all eyes in the room land on the large wooden doors towards the far end of the isle on the opposite wall. They open slowly, almost _too_ slowly for Paige's liking, and once her eyes connect with the chocolate orbs that seemed to melt under her gaze, connected to a body whose arm is linked with her father's as they make their way towards Paige at the front, everyone else in the room disappears. It's only her and Emily that exist anymore. No one else matters.

The only thing that does matter is when their lips connect at the end of the ceremony, and everyone in the room erupts into cheering maniacs.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I now give you, Mrs. and Mrs. McCullers!"


End file.
